Eyes onthe prize

Strachan and Berra on tonight’s Slovakia clash… & their World Cup dreams

GORDON STRACHAN will demand Scotland’s players hold their nerve at Hampden tonight as their World Cup campaign goes on the line.

And the national boss will urge them to embrace their big moment while staying calm amid the chaos

as they chase the win over Slovakia which will send them to within 90 minutes of a place in the play-offs for Russia 2018.

Strachan admitted yesterday the nerves are building ahead of his side’s final home game of a Group F campaign that has been turned on its head by a storming late run towards next summer’s finals.

But he insists his squad are capable of seeing it through by claiming victory tonight and an away win in Slovenia on Sunday.

He said: “Listen, we’re reaching a nervous bit now. But in any big-time sport you get to this point.

“If you’re a golfer coming down the 18th two shots ahead. If you’re down in tennis and somebody is serving for the match can you deal with that? Or can you handle it when you’re serving for the match and you’ve lost your first two points?

“You get this in any sport and it’s how you cope with it that counts.

“The atmosphere will change every minute of the game, from ‘Yes, this is great,’ to ‘Jesus, here we go’.

“It’ll go from depression one minute to back up again the next and all points round about.

“While that’s all going on with the fans – who are entitled to do that – we have to stay at a level where we’re not being affected by that.

“The experience some of the Celtic lads have gained from playing in Europe will help. They’ve learned to stay above the excitement and the depression and stay at the same level. That’s what European football gets you.”

And Strachan insists his players should be excited about the opportunity which lies ahead rather than be intimidated by it.

He said: “We really need to remember we could have been out of this thing four or five games ago. There was more pressure than now.

“There’s still pressure but there’s more excitement than the real nitty gritty we had three or four games ago.

“We’ve given ourselves that belief. We know it will be a long night but we can deal with that. It’s going to be end to end, we can deal with that as well. The players themselves, just meeting up with them, it’s great fun. Absolutely great fun.

Strachan’s own Scotland future is also on the line but even though some of his players have already urged him to stay on for the next campaign the man in charge is refusing to discuss his intentions.

He said: “Let’s get this one out of the way and we’ll see what we’re doing after that.

“Somebody asked me about playing in some golf, seniors open on October 21. I’ve no’ got a clue what I’m doing. I couldn’t tell you. Wait until the two games are out the way and I’ll give you a shout.”

And he insists he is coping well with the strain as the campaign comes down to the crunch.

He said: “I’m excited. The overriding emotion is one of excitement. It’s been that way since I knew I was packing my bags the other day to come up. Excitement.

“I’ll sleep well tonight, absolutely. It’ll be the same routine. But when I wake up in the morning, and it’s ‘bang’, something happens. Wooah, there’s a game on.

“But tonight will be fine, the usual. A cup of tea, a bit of Scrabble, a couple of episodes of Family Guy, then fall asleep.”